Roller attachment



Patented Feb. I 4, 1936 PATENT OFFICE ROLLER ATTACHIWENT Alfred Hofmann, Palisade, N. J., assignor to Alfred Hofmann Needle Works, Inc., Union City, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Original application June 20, 1934, Serial No.

731,440. Divided and this application February 20, 1935, Serial No. 7,320

. 3 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in an apparatus by means of which the end of a wire or rod may be rolled to round the end thereof.

An important object of this invention is to provide an exceedingly, simplified structure, a device for rounding the end of a wire or rod.

A further object of this invention is to provide in a device of this type, a mechanism in which the rolling or forming dies are forced against the end of the work to elfect rounding thereof under pressure.

A further object of this invention is to provide incombination, means for holding the work and means for rolling the end thereof to round it.

These and many other objects are successively secured by means of the device herein disclosed.

This invention resides substantially in the combination, construction, arrangement and relative location of parts, all as will be set forth in so full detail in the following specification and the needles.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a top plan view with some parts broken away showing in combination means for holding the work and the rolling attachment;

Fig. 2 is a side view thereof with some parts broken away and some parts in cross section; Fig. 3 is a front elevational view of the face plate of the rolling attachment;

Fig. 4 is a cross sectional view taken on the line 44 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 5 is an enlarged cross sectional view of the rolling head showing the relative association of the work and the rolling dies.

The application of the device of this invention will be more particularly described in connection with the rolling of the end of a knitting needle of the type employed for knitting ladies hosiery which is bent to form a hook of the well known spring beard type of knitting needle.

It will beof course apparent from the following description that the invention is in no sense limited to a structure for such use, but is of general application. The nature of the device will possibly be better understood however, by direct reference to its use as above mentioned. As is well known the spring beard type of knitting needle is made of relatively fine wire stock. The wire is fed from a coil supplystraightened and cut ofi to length. One of the cut ends of the wire length which is indicated at N in the drawing is rolled at the tip end to remove the burr formed by the cutting operation and to round the end so that it may be easily inserted in the needle bar of a knitting machine. The device herein disclosed and claimed is for this purpose. Association with a needle machine is disclosed in the parent application above referred to.

There has been shown in this disclosure in conjunction with the rolling attachment, one form of device suitable for holding and presenting the wire length N to the rolling attachment. This work holder by itself forms no part of this invention and hence, its full structural detail is not given.

Referring to the drawing, the device is shown as mounted upon any suitable form of support I, upon which in turn is mounted the supporting plate 33. At 34 is shown a carriage which is mounted for longitudinal sliding movement upon the plate 33 in a direction along the axes of the rolling attachment. This carriage has journaled therein a spindle 36 upon which the inverted cap 35 is secured for rotation therewith. Likewise secured to the spindle 36 for rotation therewith, is a disc or wheel 38. At 42 is shown in a general sense, a mechanism for causing indexing of a spindle cap and disc in successive, rotary steps through a predetermined angular distance. Indexing of these parts is caused by reciprocation of the carriage 34 by means of an operating rod 45 which is attached to a lug 44 integral with the carriage. Any suitable form of mechanismas disclosed in the parent case may be employed for causing reciprocation of the carriage in the proper timed relation. Since the indexing and operating means form no specific part of this invention, further detailed description is unnecessary. Mounted upon the disc or wheel 38 at spaced points around the periphery, are a series of small anvils 46 which are notched on the top face as will be apparent from Figure 2.

Pivotally mounted on the disc 38 adjacent to the anvils, are the U-shaped members or yokes, each having attached thereto, a movable anvil 41 positioned over the adjacent fixed anvil 46. A spring interposed between each yoke member 48 and the disc 38 acts to normally position the yoke member so that its anvil member 41 is in contact under pressure with the anvil member 46. Mounted upon the cap 35 in alignment with each pair of anvils, is an indexing stop or pin 49 which is radially adjustable to determine the position of the work piece N as it is fed between the anvils. At 5|, Figure 2, is shown the end of a lever operated by any suitable mechanism in the proper timed relation so as to raise the movable anvil 41 so that the work pieces may be automatically or manually inserted between the anvil members. When the work piece N is positioned the member 5! recedes so that the spring rotates the yoke 48 to cause the movable anvil 41 to grip the work piece between it and the fixed anvil 46. After the work piece is gripped in the anvil, carriage 3 1 is moved to the right causing the disc 38, cap 35 and spindle 36, to rotate in a counter clockwise direction as in Figure 2, and at the same time to move in a straight line towards the rolling attachment.

The above description has been merely given for the purpose of describing one form of work holder for presenting the work pieces to the rolling attachment. I

The rolling attachmentcomprises a standard 58 secured in any suitable way to the support I. Mounted upon the upper end of the standard are a pair of housings 59 and 63 in which is j ournaled a shaft to. The ends of this shaft project into the housings as shown. On the right hand end of the shaft is secured a pulley 6| by means of which the shaft may be imparted rotation through the agency of a belt 62 driven from any suitable power source. Secured on the same end of the shaft is a grooved collar 61 in which a pair of pins mountedon the end of yoke 68 rest. This yoke is formed on the end of a lever 10 which is pivotally mounted as at 69 upon the standard 58. The other end of the lever 1'9 is provided with a roller which engages a suitably shaped cam 7| mounted upon a power driven shaft H). The" shaft is journaled in its bearings that it may have slight longitudinal reciprocation which is effected through the agency of the cam H, lever Hi, yoke 68 and grooved collar 61. Thus, as the shaft 60 revolves it may be moved back and forth a short distance in. a longitudinal direction.

The other end of shaft 60 is provided with an enlarged head or cage upon which a pair of suitably shaped forming rollers 66 are journaledfor rotation. The open end of housing 63 is closed by means of a cover plate 64 which has the central aperture in which is mounted a pierced guide 65. The plate 64 is provided with a groove 20 in alignment with the aperture in the guide member 65. This gives clearance for the end of the work ,so that the work piece will not strike theface plate as the work holder is bringing the work piece into alignment with the guide member 65. As the work holder is approaching the roller attachment, the disc 38 is rotating to present the next work piece mounted thereon for rolling in the attachment. Thus, at this stage of the moving of the work holder, it has both longitudinal movement in the direction towards the rolling attachment begin to revolve on their axis of support. 7 Shaft 60 then moves towards the work N as described before so that the end of the work piece is subjected to a rolling pressure which properly shapes the end thereof in accordance with the shape of the rollers. At the end of the rolling operation, shaft 60 moves back to the right and the work holder moves to the left withdrawing the work piece from the rolling attachment and then begins a rotary movement which presents the next work piece to the rolling attachment.

From the. above description it will be apparent that this invention resides in certain principles of construction and operation which may be embodied in other physical forms and carried out in other ways without departure from the scope of the invention. We do not therefore desire to be strictly, limited to the disclosure as given in anillustrated sense, but prefer that the scope of the invention be defined by the appended claims.

What I seek to secure by United States Letters Patent is; I

1. In a machine for processing the end of a knitting needle the combination comprising a support having bearings therein, a shaft slidably and rotatably mounted in said bearings, said support including a housing enclosing one end of said shaft, a plurality of rollers rotatably mounted on the end of the shaft within said housing, a cover plate. closing the housing, a work piece guiding member mounted on the cover plate, means for causing rotation of said shaft in said bearings, and means for effecting reciprocation of said shaft in said bearings as it revolves, said guide serving to introduce a work piece between said guiding member mounted on the cover plate, 1

means for causing rotation of said shaft in said bearings, means for effecting reciprocation of said shaft in saidbearings as it revolves, said guide serving to introduce a work piece between-said rollers, and means for holding the end of the work piece in contact with the periphery of said rollers as they are reciprocated towards the work piece whereby the rollers are forced against the end of the work piece. r

3. In a machine for processing the end of a' knitting needle the combination comprising a support having bearings therein, a shaft slidably and rotatably mounted in said bearings forming rollers journaled on one end of said shaft so as to rotate on parallel axes, means for rotating said shaft, a grooved collar secured to said shaft, a pivotally mounted lever engaging said collar at one end, and means cooperating with the other end of the roller for effecting reciprocation thereof, and of said shaft in its bearings as it revolves.

ALFRED HOFMANN. 

